April
by lovepb13
Summary: ONESHOT Maureen thinks about April, Mimi's smile and how Joanne was sent to save her. MaureenApril friendship. MaureenMimi friendship and MoJo.


A/N: Just a little one-shot I came up with when I couldn't sleep. Reviews are like gold dust so please shower me with them!

Disclaimer: I do not own rent or any on the characters, they belong to the genius Jonathan Larson.

It was just after midnight and Maureen Johnson was sitting on the roof of the building that held both the loft and Mimi's apartment. The smoke (or was it steam?) was billowing up from the chimneys and fogging up the air, the smell that accompanied it was stale and unpleasant. For once Maureen was the least drunk of her friends and had gotten bored of their jollity. Joanne was ill and had fallen asleep in Mimi's apartment in the dancer's creaking bed. So in essence Maureen was bored. When she had left the loft Roger had been playing air guitar to an obscure record he was playing and Mimi was dancing on the table with Angel. Mark of course had been filming it all as Collins had cheered them all on. Sitting on one of the abandoned chimneys Maureen thought about how much their little group had changed over the last few months. It was less than two years since Maureen had found her best friend lying, dead, in a bath of her own blood. April had been everything to Maureen. She was like the sister she had never had. When Maureen had found April she had screamed, she heard no sound but Roger must have because he came running. When he reached the doorway he froze, doubled over then ran to the kitchen to throw up in the sink.

That had been so long ago in Maureen's mind that she could barely remember it clearly. She wasn't sure what was the actual memory and what was the nightmare that he mind had conjured up in the many months that had passed. Since then she had met Joanne. Maureen thought that Joanne would have liked April, Maureen snorted an almost bitter laugh, April always used to tell Maureen off for being a flirt. Maureen never listed; after all she wasn't the junkie. Then along came Angel; angel by name and angel by nature. She had lightened up their shadowed lives from the moment she had walked into them and continued to do so flawlessly. Maureen was quick to point out in her mind that Joanne was the real one who had lightened up her life. She had after all saved her. Then came Mimi, brilliant young vibrant Mimi. There was something that drew Maureen to Mimi, she couldn't quite place it but supposed it was probably quite similar to what drew Roger to her.

"Hey chica." Mimi greeted. She was standing about 20ft away from where Maureen was sitting. Her long hair was blowing in the wind, being caught beautifully by the moonlight as it blew.

"Hey." Maureen greeted, smiling. Mimi didn't look drunk, which was good, Maureen wasn't in the mood for a conversation with someone who was drunk. It was when Mimi smiled back that it hit Maureen. She knew in that instant why she was drawn to Mimi. She looked like April when she smiled. It was uncanny, the way her eyes lit up and sparked, the way her lips parted in the joyous expression. Personality wise Mimi was about as far away from being like April as it was possible to be. The only thing that was the same was that playful almost flirtatious smile. Maureen's smile fell.

"What's wrong?" Mimi asked, noticing the change in Maureen's expression.

"Your smile reminded me of..." Maureen began.

"I always remind people of..." Mimi smirked and sat down next to Maureen. "Who is she?"

"April." Maureen sighed.

"So I've heard." Mimi matched Maureen's sigh.

"Only when you smile." Maureen explained.

"That's exactly what Roger said when we first met." Mimi said, placing a hand on Maureen's knee. Maureen jumped at the feeling. It was something that Joanne did when Maureen was staring into space, lost in her thoughts. It was also something that April had done when they used to sit on the fire escape and watch the city. Maureen wondered whether it was a coincidence that all the women in her life used that action as a way of comforting the diva. Maybe it was fate's way of telling Maureen that each of them was sent to save her. If that had been April's purpose in Maureen's life then she had sorely failed. Or had she? Maureen probably would have never left Mark is it wasn't for April. Maybe she had saved her after all. Maybe these two new women had been sent by April herself and that was why they both mirrored April's sign of affection. Maureen decided to trust them both completely then. After all April had been right about the flirting, maybe she was right about Mimi and Joanne too."Sorry I didn't mean to make you jump." Mimi said withdrawing her hand.

"It's okay." Maureen smiled shyly. "I've just been thinking about April a lot lately. I guess it's because of you and Angel. Not in a bad way. It's just that I wonder what would have happened if April hadn't killed herself. If she had tried to fight the disease."

"April killed herself?!" Mimi sounded surprised. _Shit_, Maureen thought, _she didn't know_. Maureen nodded. "How?"

"She slit her wrists in the bath." Maureen said rather bluntly.

"Oh." Mimi said, a little taken back. Roger had never elaborated on April's death and Mimi had always just figured that she had died due to her AIDS.

"I found her." Maureen looked across the rooftops and slid onto the floor, leaning against the chimney. "She had bled so much that the water was the colour of blood and her skin the colour of paper."

"I'm sorry." Mimi said, following Maureen onto the floor.

They sat there in silence for a couple of hours. Mimi had fallen asleep after about an hour and was curled up with her head in Maureen's lap. Maureen was absently running her fingers through the dancer's flowing locks.

"Hey baby." Joanne greeted as she crouched down in front of Maureen and kissed her chastely.

"You feeling better?" Maureen asked, noticing that the colour had returned to Joanne's cheeks.

"Much thanks." Joanne smiled. "Do you want to stay out here or go home?"

"Home." Maureen whispered, smiling.

"You look happier than you did earlier." Joanne observed, placing her hand on Maureen's knee.

"Mimi made me realise something." Maureen smiled her eyes on Joanne's hand.

"What?" Joanne asked, giving Maureen's knee a squeeze.

"That you were sent to save me." Maureen smiled.

Joanne's blush was more than visible in the moonlight. "Should we wake her up?" she indicated Mimi with her free hand.

"Can you carry her?" Maureen asked.

"Yeah, I can't see why not." Joanne answered.

"Then let's let her sleep." Maureen smiled down at Mimi. Joanne let go of Maureen's knee and scooped up the tiny dancer. Mimi murmured a little and threaded her arms around Joanne's neck, making her easier to carry. Maureen stood up and walked beside Joanne as she carried Mimi across the roof towards the stairs. Maureen turned to take one last look at the roof. "Thanks April", she whispered so Joanne couldn't hear her. "Thank you for Mimi. And I love you so much for sending me Joanne."


End file.
